Jennifer "Vern" Long
Chief Executive Officer, World Coffee Research
Vern Long is the Chief Executive Officer of World Coffee Research, the world’s first global, collaborative agricultural R&D organization for coffee. A plant breeder by training, Dr. Long has 25 years of experience in international agricultural research and is an expert on genetic resources policy. Her work has focused on convening diverse stakeholders—from industry, national governments, international agricultural research centers, university scientists, and farmers—to formulate shared crop research agendas to improve productivity among smallholder farmers from low- and middle-income countries everywhere from Central America, to West, East, and Southern Africa, to South Asia.